motivation

Life is hard, y’all. Some days I have no desire to do anything productive because it feels like I’m always striving. Always trying and searching for more. When is it ever enough? When is my ship gonna come in?

It can feel like you are being overlooked, forgotten, when things aren’t happening as quickly as you want them to be. How do you get past this feeling? You take control of what you can and trust God to handle the rest. Find joy in the present. Don’t wait to live your life…

Do some good – volunteer for a soup kitchen, coach Girls on the Run in your area, help the elderly with their daily tasks, do something nice for a friend or family member, etc. Find something that you enjoy and help others with that gift you have.

Praise and worship – instead of constantly praying for what you want, try spending some time in gratitude for what you do have.

Read a book – I know. What could reading a book do?? Well, it could distract you OR if you read a personal development book, or memoir, it could give you hope and action steps that you can take to get the results that you want. Have you had your heart broken? Read “Rising Strong” by Brené Brown. It helped me get over mine, as well as seeing a well-timed Instagram post by Christine Caine quoting Psalm 34:18 –

The Lord is close to the brokenhearted and saves those who are crushed in spirit.

Get a hobby – What is something you like to do? Take photos? Get yourself a good camera and go exploring. Do you like crafting? Check out Pinterest for some inspo and head to Hobby Lobby or Michael’s for supplies and you’re set for the duration of that project.

TRAVEL – Get out of town. See some new sights. Take in a new city or a new landscape or both! There is nothing like experiencing a new culture, even if it’s just an hour away. Take a trip. Do something by yourself.

Most of all, I want you to know that you’re not alone. There are others out there going through exactly the same thing as you. And, God has not forgotten you. His timing is perfect.

I thank God every day that my ex-boyfriend and I never got married. That was 5 years ago and I can’t imagine where I’d be if we did. I can only think lonely, depressed, and unhealthy.

So, sometimes He says, in His infinite wisdom, “No.” We may be hurt and cry and pout but, in the end, we thank Him, because like an earthly father he is acting in our best interest, even when we think He’s being unfair.

I’m sure you’ve seen or heard the saying – God has 3 answers for our prayers: Yes, Not Yet, or I have something better for you. It’s so true, right?

I love this illustration of how we want to hold on to something so badly we don’t see what He has for us is so. much. better.

We only need to trust. Are you trusting today? What is God asking you to let go of?

If you grew up in church, or even just in the South, you know the story of Jonah and the big fish. All I remember is Jonah being swallowed but by a giant fish and living in his belly for a while before getting out. Until recently, I had thought he fell off the ship. I guess they soften things for kids, because he was actually thrown off…because he asked to be. Yep, cast overboard of his own decision.

Doesn’t this look sweet?

Why? Let’s go back to the beginning. Jonah was commanded by God to go to Nineveh and preach, but guess what? Jonah didn’t want to do that. Nope. He ran away from God! What was he thinking? Can you actually do that? Instead of going to Nineveh(Middle East), he jumped on a ship heading the opposite direction to Tarshish(present day Spain).

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Then, a giant storm came and Jonah asked to be “cast off” because he knew that this raging storm had come. The rest is history, he was swallowed by a fish and then later spat out after promising he would make good on what was asked of him.

So this got me thinking. God is not just going to let me just run away. No. He is going to pursue me with his relentless, passionate, absolutely overwhelming love. (Who doesn’t want to be pursued??)

I self-sabotage. I think I know what is the right thing for me. I try to control my life. What a crazy thought. What have I been running from? Where have I been afraid to go that I was being called?

There are things I have put off and put off. I have, in my humanness, avoided what I knew I should or should not be doing. Honestly, I just didn’t trust that I was capable of what he was asking of me. So, maybe all that struggle, all that heartache, all the trying to control was me in the belly of the fish. God was waiting for me to surface, waiting for me to let go, waiting for me to give in and do what he has put me here to do.

I have never been one to make New Year’s Resolutions. It has just never occurred to me.

In all seriousness, I have always tried to make a change (resolution, if you will) when I see that said change is needed. When faced with a challenge necessary for my overall well-being, I’m motivated right then and there to get moving on it. As I wrote in this post, I knew I wasn’t where I needed to be. I hadn’t quite made that change but I was ready. Change was imminent.

I am very glad that I didn’t wait until January 1st to pull myself together. Enough pouting over no-running already, there are other things I can do and still get my endorphin high! I have found that thing. By all means, make your New Year’s Resolutions if you do! You’ll be very happy you did come next year. It’s like they say, if you had started a year ago, you’d be there already…or something like that.

Are you a resolution kind of person?

Do you usually stick to them?

What’s a resolution you’ve stuck to (New Year’s or otherwise)?

Did I use “change” too many times in this post? (I searched synonyms on thesaurus.com but “revolution” and “transformation” seemed too dramatic.)

Ok, it’s time to get real, y’all. I haven’t been myself. I haven’t been working out consistently. I haven’t been eating well. I just plain haven’t been good to myself. And that’s just not good. I debated over writing about this because, frankly, it’s embarrassing. Most people don’t like to just put themselves out there like this.

Let’s start from the beginning. I have tendinitis and bursitis in my right knee. I haven’t ran for almost 2 months and very sparingly before that as I was trying to heal myself. People who don’t run would always ask me why I did it so much and for so long. Now, that I can’t, I know for sure that it, for the past four years, has been my happy place and stress relief. I became an unmotivated person. Since I couldn’t run… I pouted. I decided somewhat unconsciously that I just wouldn’t do anything because I didn’t enjoy it as much.

Thankfully, the past few weeks I have slowly but surely been pulling myself to out of my slump and back to the gym. A devo by She Reads Truth about Naomi really pulled me back to reality. I hadn’t just been unhappy about my lack of motivation it was also that other things weren’t happening on my time. Sometimes I forget or choose to ignore that none of this is up to me. I just have to learn to let go and turn it all over to God. He’s got my back no matter what.

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Hi, I'm Niki. I'm here to share my fitness, faith, and everything in-between. I have a passion for helping others reach their goals, whether it be fitness, faith, or financial. I'm 1st grade teacher by day, fitness coach by afternoon. If you can dream it, you can do it!